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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26099866">catch ya later.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacohashi/pseuds/tacohashi'>tacohashi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Warrior Nun (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Softball!AU, bad softball jokes, mary lilith and camila show up too but its very brief, rivals to lovers if you squint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:27:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,238</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26099866</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacohashi/pseuds/tacohashi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ava Silva is determined on taking St. Michael's University's softball team to semifinals, and won't hesitate on using bad puns and jokes to get there if she needs to.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>257</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>catch ya later.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>listen, listen. i don't know what this is either. it started being somewhat serious and turned into a crack(ish) monster. just enjoy the ride, my dude. </p><p>you can blame all spelling mistakes on google docs, and all grammar mistakes on me. but let me know if there are any so i can fix them, english isn't my first language and i have a tendency to fuck up sometimes.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The pitcher, number twenty-two and with the <em> sharpest </em> cheekbones she’s ever seen, prepares her pitch and Ava tightens her hold on the bat, she watches the ball leave the pitcher’s hand and she throws her hips out, swinging as fast and hard as she can. </p><p> </p><p>Ava watches the ball go far, far, <em> far </em> away from her. Passing second base and on its way to the outfield, and for a single second all Ava can do is stare. She can still hear the <em> clank! </em> of the bat hitting the ball ringing in her ears. Another second passes and her legs are already pushing her towards first base. </p><p> </p><p>Her mind stays half between the ball still rolling far, far away in the middle outfield, and half in the bases she has to go through. </p><p> </p><p>She’s stepping on second base and pushing towards third, and all she can hear is her heartbeat thumping away against her ears. A constant <em> ba-dum ba-dum </em>that matches her feet stomping through third base and on her way to home.</p><p> </p><p>Ava can <em> taste </em>the victory already (or maybe it’s dust that got on her mouth, who knows), she’s five steps away from home. One more run and they’ll be in semifinals, and after that in the championship. </p><p> </p><p>She's four steps away when a sudden figure stands in front of her. </p><p> </p><p>A part of her brain knows that’s not a legal move, catchers <em> cannot </em> stand on the path between third and home while a player is running unless they’re in possession of the ball. She knows it's close to impossible that the ball got all the way from the back of the field to home in so little time, but she’s also running too fast and won’t be able to stop even if she tries to.</p><p> </p><p>And Ava isn’t one to follow most rules, she’s no saint (which is ironic, St. Michael’s University’s softball team is called The Saints). But God fucking <em> dammit</em>, she’s worked so hard all semester to get to this point and she’s not going to let some dumb catcher ruin all the effort she put in the team.</p><p> </p><p>She’s three steps away when she crashes against bulky gear, (thank God the team got new batting helmets for this season) sending both of them to the ground. </p><p> </p><p>There’s silence, and then a single “<em>Fuck!” </em>that comes from her mouth.</p><p> </p><p>Her first thought is that she needs to get to home, and the second is ouch<em> . </em> Who knew catcher’s gear could hurt so much? Definitely not Ava. </p><p> </p><p>She’s still three steps away, and absolutely no one will stop her from getting home and keeping her home-run streak of the season.</p><p> </p><p>Okay, maybe the umpire is the only person stopping her from getting home. He’s been giving her a stinky eye the whole game for no reason. Ava’s been playing fair and square! She knows the stakes are high for this game, and she’s been taking it seriously, okay? She can be a serious person if she wants to.</p><p> </p><p>He declares the play as an out, because the ball <em>did</em> get from the back to the field all the way to home. And, what the fuck? She’s the fastest runner in the team, it should’ve been impossible. Ava is pretty sure she would fight someone if her body didn’t feel like a very big bruise.</p><p> </p><p>One of her teammates rushes to her side and helps her up, and because Ava is a good sport, she helps the catcher get up too. Which ends up being a bad choice, because <em>holy shit</em> the gear is extremely heavy and her whole body hurts from the fall.</p><p> </p><p>And also, the catcher has the prettiest eyes she’s ever seen (even if the mask covers most of her face and only a tiny part of her eyes are visible) and Ava, maybe, blacks out for a quick second. </p><p> </p><p>“Are you okay?” Not only does the catcher have the prettiest eyes ever, but also the softest voice she’s heard. There’s a hint of an accent, maybe British. Definitely European. Hundred percent hot. “I didn’t mean to make you fall or hurt you.”</p><p> </p><p>Ava is pretty sure she hit her head <em> very hard </em> in the fall, because she says: “Do you know how softball players keep in touch? They touch base every once in a while.”</p><p> </p><p>Someone please murder her. </p><p> </p><p>Pretty-Eyes catcher laughs. A small, confused laugh. And holy shit, Ava made her laugh. </p><p> </p><p>No more getting murdered, then.</p><p> </p><p>She's not even mad about the out (maybe just a little bit). She knows and trusts her team, they’ll make up for it in the next inning.</p><p> </p><p>Her teammate drags her away and back towards the dugout, Coach Frances is already waiting for her with a <em> furious </em> look on her face. Everyone and their moms at St. Michael’s knew that a pissed Coach Frances was worse than death. </p><p> </p><p>Alright. Back to getting murdered. Now for real. </p><p> </p><p>“Ava.” Shit, she’s in real trouble.</p><p> </p><p>“Before you say anything, I was doing more than okay before that girl fucked it up! It’s not my fault!” She takes off her batting helmets, tries to fix her ponytail (miserably) and looks at Coach Frances dead in the eyes. Bad idea. She looks away.</p><p> </p><p>“You obsolete child.” She hisses, and Ava is in <em> way </em> more trouble than she thought she was. “We needed two more runs to win. And you <em> ruined it</em>. You’re benched for the rest of the game.” </p><p> </p><p><em> Benched? </em>Ava Silva does not get benched in the only thing she’s truly passionate about. </p><p> </p><p>“But—”</p><p> </p><p>“—No buts. Reyes, you’re in for Ava. Get your glove and warm up with someone before this inning ends.” Coach Frances says, “And Ava, I don’t want to see your face for the rest of the game, so go get lost somewhere.” </p><p> </p><p>Ava huffs. Fucking Pretty-Eyes catcher, she was about to win this game and now she’s <em> benched. </em> The last time she was benched was because she almost, key-word <em> almost</em>, punched an umpire after he made a bad call. He deserved it, she has no regrets.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the game passes so, so painfully slow it feels like years to Ava. She’s starting to get convinced that time passes slower inside the dugout, it couldn’t be possible for time to pass so slowly. Maybe she's just really bored.</p><p> </p><p>The Halo Bearers (what kind of dumb name was that, anyways?) are up by four runs by the time the bottom half of the seventh inning starts when Ava gets an idea.</p><p> </p><p>She made Pretty-Eyes catcher laugh, didn’t she? And she’s benched, so Ava wouldn’t get in <em> that </em>much trouble. She looks around the field, trying to find the best and closest spot to the catcher so she can execute her plan and lead The Saints to a victory and to semifinals too.</p><p> </p><p>There’s a spot between the local team’s dugout, the bleachers and the fence that has a direct path to where Pretty-Eyes catcher is crouched behind home plate.</p><p> </p><p>Diego, her best friend and someone who she considers her little brother, sees her walk towards the spot she found. And because he knows her so well, he already knows she’s going to cause some kind of trouble. </p><p> </p><p>“Ava, what are you doing?” He whispers through the fence, “You could get in trouble. Like, real bad trouble. Not the usual.” </p><p> </p><p>Well, he was right. But it was for a good cause.</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing you have to worry about, alright?” She whispers back, “Just trust me.” </p><p> </p><p>Diego absolutely does not trust her, but he does a very good job acting like he does and backs off to the bleachers again paying attention to her instead of the game. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, <em> psst, </em>” Ava whispers, leaning her body towards Pretty-Eyes catcher, she knows this is a big risk but she also needs to get to semifinals. “Hey, number five, the catcher.”</p><p> </p><p>It looks like she didn’t hear Ava, so she says again in a louder voice, “Hey, catcher, I’m talking to you.”</p><p> </p><p>Pretty-Eyes catcher has her right arm stretched, her glove open and ready for the pitch. Her left arm is resting behind her back with her fist clenched. The fist unclenches, her middle finger tapping twice against her back acknowledging Ava. </p><p> </p><p>Aha! Her plan was working. She’s a genius.</p><p> </p><p>“What animal is always at a softball game?” Ava says, grinning at Pretty-Eyes catcher. </p><p> </p><p>Number twenty-two, the pitcher with the killer cheekbones, prepares her pitch, and just before the ball is out of her hand, Ava says: </p><p> </p><p>“A bat.” </p><p> </p><p>For a split second, she thinks there’s no reaction. The ball flies from the pitching point fast and directly into Pretty-Eyes catcher’s glove. But the ball doesn’t land in her glove and instead crashes against the fence, Ava feels it rattle all the way to her small hiding spot. </p><p> </p><p>No one moves for a moment, except for a small shake in Pretty-Eyes catcher’s shoulders (Ava made her laugh <em> twice</em>). Then, the two players in bases and the one at bat take off at full speed, taking advantage of the two extra seconds to round up as many bases as they can. Two of them, fucking Reyes who took her spot on the roaster and the first base-woman, makes it all the way to home. They just need two more runs to win the game.</p><p> </p><p>When the ball is in the pitcher’s glove again, she calls for time out. Pretty-Eyes catcher and the rest of the infield walk to her. Number twenty-two talks angrily with her glove covering her mouth. </p><p> </p><p>Ava has never understood what the point of doing that was, but she also was an outfielder and never invited to the time out parties (She’s <em> not </em> petty about that, not at all). </p><p> </p><p>After a few minutes of angry talking between each other, the shortstop, a tiny girl with curly black hair and the number fifteen, says a few words directed mostly to Mean-Cheekbones pitcher and they stop the time out. As the infield walks back towards their places, the third base-woman, number seventy-two and a senior named Mary that was ranked top three in the country last year, looks directly into Ava’s eyes and frowns. Shit. She turns to Tiny shortstop and says something that makes the smaller girl laugh and she, <em> also, </em> looks at Ava for a moment before nodding at Mary. </p><p> </p><p>(Oh, God. She was caught, wasn’t she? She hates admitting it, but maybe Diego was right and it was a bad idea. Fuck.) </p><p> </p><p>But then they get back in their positions and act like their interaction hadn’t happened (and it didn’t nearly give Ava a heart attack).</p><p> </p><p>Pretty-Eyes catcher signals the play to Mean-Cheekbones pitcher, who shakes her head and makes a signal of her own. Ava can almost hear the long sigh of the catcher after giving her pitcher a short, curt nod approving the play.</p><p> </p><p>In that moment Ava decides trying the same stunt twice won’t work, so she retreats back into the bench inside the dugout to see how the game ends. (She also digs through her bag for a spare piece of paper and a pen. She loses nothing by giving Pretty-Eyes catcher her number, does she?)</p><p> </p><p>She looks down at the slightly crumpled piece of paper and scribbles for a few minutes, and then her whole team is cheering. The fuck? What’d she miss?</p><p> </p><p>Her teammates are cheering and screaming in joy, so she must've missed something good. And also that they pulled a miracle and <em> won </em>the game. They’ll be going to the semifinals.</p><p> </p><p>The Saints from St. Michael’s University are going to the <em> fucking semifinals </em> for the first time in over ten years<em>. </em>  </p><p> </p><p>Ava folds the piece of paper and hurriedly shoves it in her back pocket before going out and celebrating with her teammates. They laugh and hug and even <em> cry </em> about their win for five, ten minutes until Coach Frances shushes them and drags them back inside the dugout to say something.</p><p> </p><p>That something turns out to be: “You all played <em> passable </em>at best, but don’t expect me to go easy during training. Go shake hands and I’ll meet all of you in the locker room to go over the game and all your errors in depth.”</p><p> </p><p>All seventeen members of St. Michael’s University’s softball team walk to the line between home plate and first, all of them buzzing with excitement over their victory against the league’s best team—Aerala’s College for Girls’ softball team.</p><p> </p><p>On the other side, The Halo Bearers all look like they always do, serious and professional. Their black and golden uniforms a deep contrast to Ava’s team uniforms, a light blue with white detailing. </p><p> </p><p>While shaking hands and muttering <em> ‘good game’ </em> to the players of the other (losing!) team, Ava slips the crumpled piece of paper to Pretty-Eyes catcher with a grin and an eyebrow wiggle. She receives a confused look from her and a few eyerolls from the other team’s members. But whatever, Ava doesn’t care, she’s going to the semifinals and she met the prettiest girl she’s seen in her entire fucking life. She’s <em> winning </em> and no one will make her feel bad about anything (not even the out that broke her perfect home-run streak).</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> ‘Why are frogs great outfielders? They never miss a fly. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> [XXX-XXX-XXX]  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> -Ava Silva.’ </em>
</p><p> </p><p>——</p><p> </p><p>A few days later, Ava gets two texts:</p><p> </p><p><b>[11:24AM] Unknown:</b> When does royalty watch softball? During knight games.</p><p><br/>
<b>[11:24AM] Unknown: </b>I’m Beatrice.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>might fuck around and write a second part to this, still not sure.</p><p>you can find me on tumblr as @rudeamity and if you scream about bea being a catcher loud enough i'll answer too.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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